First Advantage’s (FA) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of First Advantage (NYSE:FA) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Advantage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.29.

First Advantage Price Performance

FA stock opened at $18.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 616.00 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.49. First Advantage has a 52-week low of $14.01 and a 52-week high of $20.79. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $199.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 0.65%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that First Advantage will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in First Advantage by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 432,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,099,000 after buying an additional 98,500 shares in the last quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage in the fourth quarter worth about $24,328,000. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage in the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in First Advantage by 57.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 29,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in First Advantage by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,294,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,692,000 after purchasing an additional 9,718 shares in the last quarter. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Advantage Company Profile

First Advantage Corporation provides employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions worldwide. It offers pre-onboarding products and solutions, such as criminal background checks, drug/health screening, extended workforce screening, FBI channeling, identity checks and biometric fraud mitigation tools, education/work history verification, driver records and compliance, healthcare credentials, executive screening, and other screening products.